Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT)
is cutting orders it places with suppliers this quarter and next to
address rising inventory the company flagged in last month’s earnings
report.

Last week, an ordering manager at the company’s
Bentonville, Arkansas, headquarters described the pullback in an e-mail
to a supplier, who said others got similar messages. “We are looking at
reducing inventory for Q3 and Q4,” said the Sept. 17 e-mail, which was
reviewed by Bloomberg News.

U.S. inventory growth at Wal-Mart outstripped sales gains in the second
quarter at a faster rate than at the retailer’s biggest rivals.
Merchandise has been piling up because consumers have been spending less
freely than Wal-Mart projected, and the company has forfeited some
sales because it doesn’t have enough workers in stores to keep shelves
adequately stocked.

St. Adalbert freeing Slavic slaves (source). With
the Christianization of Eastern Europe, the trade in fair-skinned women and
boys came to an end.

The white slave trade played a key role in ending
the Dark Ages—this seemingly unending downward spiral that followed the
collapse of the Roman Empire. By the 8th century, the elites of Western Europe
had run out of gold and possessed very little else that could be traded for
luxury Oriental goods. It was at that point in time that the possibility arose
of selling fellow Europeans into slavery, particularly Slavs from the lands
between the Elbe and the Volga.

Yet this historical episode is relatively unknown.
One reason was its semi-illegality. Involuntary servitude wasn’t unlawful in
itself. In fact, most Europeans were bound by long-term ties of submission,
like the serfs who farmed the land. This was an accepted part of life.
Enslavement was even seen as a humane way of dealing with criminals, prisoners
of war, and other people who would otherwise be killed. But this particular form of enslavement meant more
than just inferior status.

Some of its aspects contravened both secular law and
Christian morality, notably castration, the breaking up of families, and the
abandonment of individuals who were too old or too young. There was also the
exporting of fellow Europeans to the Muslim world and the prohibition against
letting them learn about the Christian faith. It was for this reason that the
existing term for involuntary servitude—servus—was
felt to be inappropriate. The ethnonym ‘Slav’ thus came to mean a particularly
degraded kind of servant—a slave.

danceswithvowels:
I think Cruz is fighting the last possible battle. After this, we're
likely done.

Unless you get a veto-overriding Congress, your next shot
at repeal will be to win the Senate and Whitehouse, which will be after
Obamacare's been in place for 3 years, minimum. And if you think there
would be screaming about a govt shutdown now, how much steely spine will
be needed for "taking away poor people's health insurance" by shutting
down the exchanges in a repeal? Not to mention, you can't legislatively
undo years of damage.

Unlike Troy and many others, I think that there is a point to Ted
Cruz' grandstanding and to what the House Republicans did when they sent
up a budget that does not include funding for Obamacare.

Obamacare is
about to go into effect; and, as one Democratic Senator acknowledged not
all that long ago, it really is going to be a train-wreck.

Corporations
are going to drop their healthcare coverage. Insurance costs are going
to soar. People who are working full-time will soon discover that they
have part-time jobs. This has already begun, and the unions are
screaming bloody murder. The Longshoreman have walked out of the
AFL-CIO.

All hell is going to break loose.

What the hearties in
the House are doing -- and what Ted Cruz is doing -- is signaling to the
discontented that there really is another way. They can vote Republican
in 2014; and, if they do so big time, there will be a correction of
course.

Fulfilling a prediction he made last month, top-rated radio host Michael Savage told his listeners tonight he will take over the prime afternoon-drive slot on Cumulus Media Networks stations in January.

Savage called it “the biggest shake-up in talk radio history.”

The 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern Time slot is currently held by Sean Hannity, who has ended his relationship with the network.

Savage said he expects immediately to have five to six times as many listeners.

“The time slot says that something about my show has resonated with the American people,” Savage said.

He asked rhetorically, “Will this change of Michael Savage going to drive time change the course of the next election?”

Savage said that not even tea-party favorite Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has a mantra like “borders, language, culture,” and those themes are what he expects to emphasize through to the next election.

“The common culture that is the glue that has kept our nation together,” he said.

I
see you have the car pictures posted on your website Beautiful Woodworking (very nice site,
by the way) so I thought i'd provide a few details about it. It is a
1942 Chrysler Town & Country wagon, commonly known as a Barrelback.
These were only made in 1941 & 42, with 42 being a short production
year due to the war. The 41s are rare, but the 42s are even more so, and
only about half a dozen are known to have survived. I have about 11
months into it so far and will be working on it for most of the rest of
this year. I only do the wood work, others take care of the chassis,
sheet metal, paint. upholstery, etc... This project will probably be
about three years total.

I would be glad to keep you updated on the progress if you would like. I have also included a few pictures of some of the
other things I have built, you don't see too many of these around anymore.

If
you are ever in the neighborhood, stop by the shop and have a look
around. It's not much, just me and the mice, but you would be welcome
just the same.

Following the epic, 21-hour speech by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, supporting the defunding of Obamacare, either voters made so many calls to establishment Republicans that their phone lines melted, or those GOP leaders took their phones off the hook.

Even in this age of digital wizardry and limitless voicemail, callers could not get through at all to Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

A message said the senator was experiencing a high volume of calls and directed members of the public to call back later or visit his website.

It was the same story with the man who was the face of the GOP in the 2008 elections, former GOP presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

His phone was off the hook, too. Callers got a message stating his voicemail box was full.

The Arizona senator apparently had other matters on his mind during the Cruz speech, tweeting, “Final episode of #Broadchurch tonight – one of the most entertaining shows on TV right now.”

That prompted conservative commentator Michelle Malkin to tweet, “Meanwhile, McCain is tweeting about a TV show. See the problem here, America?”

Callers to Minority Whip Sen John Cornyn, R-Texas, also got a message saying the line was busy, but at least those callers were sent to voicemail.

The Modoc County Board of Supervisors today voted to join neighboring
Siskiyou County in its bid to secede from the State of California.

Board Chairman Geri Byrne said a measure to join the push to form a
State of Jefferson was approved by a vote of 4-0, with one supervisor
absent.

“I put the measure on the agenda because I heard from a number of
people in my district that wanted to do such,” Byrne said. “We’re not
saying we’re seceding today, we’re saying let’s look into it.”

Roughly 40 people turned out for the board meeting, Byrne said a
standing-room only crowd in the Modoc County chambers. About a dozen
spoke in favor of the measure with only two raising objections.

“This is going to have to be something the people bring forward,”
Byrne said. “It’s going to have to be from the bottom up, not from the
top down.”

The move makes Modoc the second county to join in the fight to form
the State of Jefferson in less than a month. Siskiyou County passed a
measure to start the secession process at the supervisor’s Sept. 3
meeting.

This may be the only video we've ever seen of a fight in which the Medal of Honor was won (earned)
in which the Medal of Honor "winner" (recipient) himself is seen. What
do you say about a man who lays down in the the open in the middle of an
ambush with a high viz marker panel on top of himself to bring a
casevac bird in? As you hopefully already know, Capt. Will Swenson,
United States Army, is to be awarded the Medal of Honor.

This was the same ambush in the Ganjgal Valley in which Cpl. Dakota Meyer performed the actions earned him (again, earned) his Medal of Honor; it also led to an AR 15-6
investigation into what we believe was criminal negligence on the part
of the officers in charge of authorizing and delivering support to the
guys on the sharp end. We could spout a lot of platitudes, but that
would just demean everyone in the video, from the Soldier, three Marines
and Corpsman who died to the pilots who were pulling casualties out
under fire to the man who will soon be awarded this country's highest
military award for valor.

Today the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a
report regarding premiums and plan offerings in Obamacare’s exchanges
for next year. Despite the Administration’s claims, premiums are goingup due to Obamacare—and the quality of the “coverage” is, in many cases, going down.

In both today’s report and an earlier report
released in July, HHS claims that premiums are “lower than projected.”
HHS bases its claim on a March 2012 Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimate
stating that premiums for a family would average $15,400 per year on
the exchanges. The Administration report claims that weighted average
premiums are “16 percent below projections” based on that CBO
report—therefore Obamacare is lowering premiums.

What HHS didn’t mention is that CBO also estimated in a November 2009 analysis
that individually purchased insurance premiums would go up by an
average $2,100 per family, due to the increased mandates and
requirements included in Obamacare. So when HHS says that premiums are
“below projections,” it really means that premiums are still going up as a result of Obamacare—just by less than originally advertised.

Ted Cruz stayed up all night to fight ObamaCare. Obama went to bed while Ambassador Stevens was being murdered.

*******************************

The White House on Wednesday released a report on the costs of Obamacare
for most Americans, heralding its interpretation that 95 percent of the
nation will be able to buy health insurance premiums below “earlier
projections.”

But note the words “earlier projections.” That doesn’t mean that the
insurance Americans will have to buy, or be fined, under Obamacare will
be cheaper than what they pay today, before Obamacare kicks in.
We know this because at the same time the White House was releasing
its broad study, Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander released his analysis of
the report's portion on his state.
He found that Obamacare will cost far more than what many of his
constituents are paying today, some by as much as 190 percent.

That's good news as I expect she might screw the administration if granted this.

IRS scandal figure Lois Lerner is negotiating through her lawyers with Rep. Darrell Issa’s House
Oversight and Government Reform Committee about possibly gaining
immunity to testify again in the committee’s investigative hearings.

“The Chairman did not adjourn the hearing, he recessed it. Ms. Lerner
remains under subpoena. The Committee has not made any offer of
immunity to Ms. Lerner. The Committee has, however, indicated a
willingness to listen to any offers from her attorney about what she would testify to if it was offered,” Oversight Committee adviser Ali Ahmad told The Daily Caller.

“I don’t have any update for you on timing,” Ahmad said in regard to when Lerner will be called back before the committee.

The silhouettes called 'The Fallen' were created by 200 volunteers to mark International Day of Peace

They carved 9K images into the sand.

The seaside town of Arromanches, France, looked quite different over the weekend. Nine thousand silhouettes were hand-drawn in the sand on the Normandy beach to commemorate the soldiers and civilians who died there during Operation Neptune on June 6, 1944.

This stirring tribute, called "The Fallen," was conceived by British artists Jamie Wardley and Andy Moss, who enlisted the help of 200 volunteers to mark the International Day of Peace over the weekend.

It took two years to prepare for the project, and the results, which were ultimately washed away by the tide, were heartbreaking. "All around us there are relics of the Second World War, but the one thing that is missing are the people that actually died," Wardley said. "We've very quietly made a big statement (MSN)

“Rest assured, if you refuse to
take a stand against defunding the anti-gun ObamaCare law, then GOA will
rename ObamaCare in your state as ‘______-Care,’ just put your name in
the blank.” -- GOA’s Larry Pratt and Tim Macy to US Senators (Sept. 24,
2013)

UPDATE: The phones are ringing off the hook in
the U.S. Senate in opposition to funding ObamaCare as part of the
Continuing Resolution. Keep up the good work!

ATT Treaty to attack our rights. Today,
Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to sign the UN Arms Trade
Treaty (ATT). Thankfully, GOA members have been receiving their latest
GOA snail mail report on this treaty over the past week.

It is vitally important that you send the postcards which are
included to your two U.S. Senators. We need to dump thousands of
postcards and letters on their desks so they know that the American
people do NOT want this treaty ratified! Anti-gun ObamaCare to threaten our rights. GOA yesterday told U.S. Senators that GOA will be rating the “cloture” (or filibuster) vote on ObamaCare.

Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) took to the Senate floor yesterday and
spoke for several hours in opposition to the anti-gun ObamaCare law.
Several Republican Senators aided him, including Mike Lee of Utah, David
Vitter of Louisiana and Rand Paul of Kentucky. Citizens in these
states should thank these Senators for standing strong!

ACTION: Make sure you have called your Senators at 202-224-3121
and have urged them to support Cruz and Lee’s efforts to defund
ObamaCare. Likewise, ask your Senators to oppose any effort by Harry
Reid to reinsert funding for ObamaCare into the Continuing Resolution.
The first vote of many may occur today.

If you like to speak “technaleeze,” you will want to ask your
Senator to vote “NO” on cloture. A YES vote on cloture is a vote to end
debate and pass the Continuing Resolution the way Harry Reid wants it.
(That will allow him to reinsert funding for ObamaCare.) So tell your
Senators to vote NO on cloture.

ACTION for certain states: If you live in a
state where your Senators are committed socialists -- and who will vote
for ObamaCare every chance they get -- you might want to help buck up
wavering Senators in other states. So what follows is such a list.

"During a conversation on prepping, someone recently said to me, 'If
things get half as bad as these preppers think they will, I don't want
to be alive.' So, how bad will things will get? Real unemployment is
already at Great Depression levels (John Williams' Shadow Statistics
contradicts the BLS' bogus figures), but when this depression deepens, I
think we'll be looking at 50% or 60% unemployment easily. Much worse
than the 1930s. It will be absolute hell for millions of Americans, and
when the money stops flowing down to the man on the street, the blood
will flow in the streets (Gerald Celente). Lots of it."

****************************************

If the economy is getting better, then why do incomes keep falling? According to a shocking new report that was just released by the U.S. Census Bureau,
median household income (adjusted for inflation) has declined for five
years in a row. This has happened even though the federal government
has been borrowing and spending money at an unprecedented rate and the
Federal Reserve has been on the most reckless money printing spree in
U.S. history.

Despite all of the "emergency measures" that have been
taken to "stimulate the economy", things just continue to get worse
for average American families. Americans are working harder than ever,
but their paychecks are not reflecting that. Meanwhile, the cost of
everything just keeps going up. The Federal Reserve insists that
inflation is "low", but anyone that goes grocery shopping or that stops
at a gas station knows that is a lie. In fact, if inflation was
calculated the exact same way that it was calculated back in 1980,
the inflation rate would be somewhere between 8 and 10 percent right
now. Paychecks are being stretched more than ever before, and that is
probably the reason why about three-fourths of the entire country is
living paycheck to paycheck at this point.

He's a war criminal, but Obama is not? OK, got it........ Obama's behind this, but why in the world would he even consider accepting a job at 99% of the universities these days? Poor judgement.

Every now and then I find a subject that so angers me, I kind of take
it personally, and this is one of those items. I am the first person to
stand up for free speech. I especially understand that I will find
some of it offensive, but it seems that left-wing CUNY Professor S.
Sandor John has taken it to a whole new level. He is instrumental in
organizing personal attacks on Gen. David Petraeus. Sandor and some
students have pledged to make Petraeus' tenure "a living hell."

Everybody remembers the video of college students following Petraeus
and screaming obscenities at him and calling him a "war criminal." If
not, then here it is.

Remembrance

Winners: Navy Cross Nguyen Van Kiet & MOH Thomas R. Norris This week’s Medal of Honor hero is one of a handful of Navy SEALs awarded the MOH in the Vietnam War. Norris snuck behind enemy lines with a South Vietnamese Navy petty officer rescued two downed pilots in 1972–when most of our resources had been pulled from the country. Interesting to note that later year, Norris was himself rescued by another SEAL Michael E. Thornton.More @ Medal of Honor Roll Call

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Core Creek Militia

==============================My sixth great grandfather, his wife, and five of his six children were killed in battle with the Tuscarora Indians at Core Creek, NC.

The Seven Blackbirds

==============================My third great grandfather was an Ensign in the Revolutionary War, and saved his unit's flag after being wounded at the Battle of Brandywine. He was also at Kingston (Kinston), Wilmington, Charleston, Two Sisters and Augusta. He was at the defeat at Brier Creek and also Bee Creek.

Requiem Aeternam -
Eternal Rest Grant unto Them
==============================
My second great grandfather was killed in action on May 3, 1863 at the Battle of Chancellorsville.
=============================
My great grandfather and great uncle knew all the men in the "Civil War Requiem" video as they were part of the 53rd NC which was the sole unit defending Fort Mahone. (Fort Mahone was named "Fort Damnation" by the Yankees) *Handpicked men of the 53rd (My great grandfather was one of these) made the final, night assault at Petersburg in an attempt to break Grant's line. This was against Fort Stedman which was a few miles to the slight northeast. They initially succeeded, but reinforcements drove them back. This video is made from photographs which were taken the day after the 53rd evacuated the lines the night before to begin the retreat to Appomattox. I have many more pictures taken by the same photographer, one of these shows a 14 year old boy and the other is the famous picture of the blond, handsome soldier with his musket.
===========================
*General Gordon promised the men a gold medal and 30 days leave if they accomplished their task and many years after the War my great grandfather wrote General Gordon, who was then governor of Georgia about this incident. They exchanged several letters which I have framed. See first link below.
===========================
*The Attack On Fort Stedman
============================
"His Colored Friends"
============================
Lee's Surrender
=============================
My Black NC Kinfolks
============================
Punished For Being Caught!

Great Grandfather Koonce

He was a drummer boy in the WBTS, survived the War only to die a few years later. He was caught in an ice storm on his way home, but instead of seeking shelter, continued on his horse until the end. His clothes had to be cut off and he died a few days later.